Information

The Coming of the Computer sparked an intense interest in Information - and then an intense reaction to it. This reaction is what I want to write about today.

This reaction is part of a much broader reaction to the world as a whole. Most people (most Americans, for sure) have turned against it - against the world they were once part of.

Instead of considering this alarming (as I do) they consider this a huge advantage. If things have gotten too bad - the smartest thing to do is ignore them (they think). And things had gotten too bad. And they have gotten worse, since then.

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Back to the reaction against more Information. Software people have become obsessed with this, and refer to it as Data - and they cannot get enough of it. This, in my opinion, is going too far.

We have alway been information gatherers - this is what has made us so successful. We found what we needed (mostly food) in new area, after new area - until we were everywhere. We were still a minor species, but were satisfied with our place in the world. We had everything we needed.

This comfortable existence lasted for a long time, perhaps millions of years. And we should regard this as our basic state of being. And not the existence that followed it - that we refer to as Civilization. That was marked by one thing - we wanted more, of everything - including information of the most basic kind. We wanted to know how things worked.

At this point, I must clarify myself. I am not saying we should go back to our pre-civilized condition, as some people (who knew nothing about this) have advocated. We have become civilized, and cannot go back.

All we can do - is do the best, with what we have. And that happens to be a great deal.

We can now manage more information, of all kinds - especially digital. If we can overcome our fear of knowing too much.

We have been told not to question certain things - and, as a result, we have not questioned them. And we have not even noticed - that there were such forbidden topics. But the time has come when we must question them.

Plenty of people agree with me - but they cannot face the most fundamental fact - that the world didn't want them, considered them defective - and they were forced to agree, with this judgement against them.